The Great Costume Mystery
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: Fern is throwing a costume party for her friends. It's supposed to be a great outing for everyone, but when a member doesn't show, a new mystery is presented. Can Fern and the gang solve it? One-shot.


THE GREAT COSTUME PARTY MYSTERY

For Fern's birthday, she decided to throw a costume party with her friends. She decorated the house, and with her mother's help, refreshments and typical birthday foods were made. And in typical Fern fashion, a mystery was created to challenge her guests while they were there. All she needed was for everyone to arrive.

Sue Ellen was the first to arrive. Fern opened the door to see her dressed as a ninja. Fern smiled brightly, handing her a party favor and allowing her inside. Sue Ellen complimented Fern's costume. Fern was dressed as a flower, complete with an elaborate headdress made to look like flower petals. Her arms were the flower's green leaves and the rest of her was the green stem. Her clothes were carefully coordinated with Muffy's help to make sure the shades of green matched perfectly.

The nexts guests to arrive were Arthur and Buster. Buster was dressed as a robot, complete with lights and whistles. Arthur decided to come as a soccer player so he could show off his new shin guards and soccer ball. They took their party favors into the living room as Brain arrived. He was dressed as Albert Einstein, complete with a white wig. He too accepted a party favor and moved into the living room.

Arriving fashionably late was Muffy dressed as a member of royalty, her large dress brushing against furniture as she moved to join the others. Francine was behind her dressed as a jockey, complete with a toy horse on a long stick and a fake whip. Jenna arrived next dressed as a hibbie, complete with a rainbow afro wig and bright blue bellbottomed jeans.

Fern moved inside to check on her friends, playing music using the television and uncovering snack platters with chips, tiny sandwiches, and special cupcakes. She felt this would give her final guest, Binky, a chance to arrive on time, but he remained missing.

"You know, Fern, I think your costume turned out great considering the difficulty," Muffy called to Fern, patting Francine's arm to get her attention. "Fern and I spent _hours_ making sure the greens would match. Aside from the leaves, I think we did a great job. Do you agree, Francine?"

"Yeah, sure," she murmured. "Who are we waiting for, Fern? I have to leave at seven for my grandmother's special dinner?"

"We're waiting on Binky, it seems," Brain smiled. "I wonder if he's on a city bus contemplating my Theory of Relativity," Brain joked, but only Sue Ellen laughed at the joke.

"Well he needs to hurry. Fern specifically mentioned special activityies and 'fashionably late' only applies when you're being fashionable!" Muffy exclaimed.

"Please, it's fine. I'll call his house to see what's keeping him," Fern offered, moving into the kitchen to make the call, hoping she'd get no answer or Binky's parents. Instead, a very nervous Binky answered the phone. "Binky, what's wrong? Why aren't you here?"

"I'm not coming! Someone gave us the wrong costume or something and...I'm just not coming!" Binky exclaimed.

"Binky, please, everyone is waiting for you. I'm sure it's not-"

"Not that bad?" he interupted angrily. "Oh, it's that bad. I was going to come as a Ninja Squirrel from that mutant teen television series, but instead...I don't want to tell you what they gave me, but someone did this on purpose! Hey, were you going to do a costume party mystery?"

"Aww, am I that predictable?!" Fern cried.

"No, they're great!" Binky assured her. "They're always so perfect, but I guess...I need to figure out who did this and I hope ou can help me."

"I need details first. You have to tell me which costume shop and what they gave you instead," she said, hearing him whimper on the other side of the line. "Please, I promise not to judge, and if it is as bad as you say-"

"It is!"

"Well then, I'll keep it to myself as best I can. Now please, tell me everything," Fern begged. Binky whimpered again, but soon Fern had every detail, including the embarrassing costume he received instead. Fern had to try really hard to keep from laughing, and she knew to keep that particular detail to himself.

She ended the call...and let the mystery begin.

"Binky Barnes will not be attending the party...because his costume was sabotaged!" Fern cried. The group gasped, then Muffy stepped forward.

"We know it was technically you, Fern," she smirked. "You're always doing these mystery plots at your parties. I even brought my mini-tablet to keep notes with."

"Muffy's right, Fer. You're the onl one who would, which is a nice plot twist," Francine smiled. Buster and Arthur nodded in agreement.

"No, this isn't my plot. My plot involved something entirely different, but when I called Binky, he told me the horrible truth. So, this is his plot line, not mine. I can call him back right now if you don't believe me," Fern said firmly, but her face looked very hurt.

"I believe her, guys," Jenna called from behind the others, stepping forward when she had their attention. "Fern would never do this to a friend without asking them first, and Binky was really looking forward to this party. He'd never been to a non-Halloween costume party before and he told me everything about his costume while we worked on our group projects a few days ago. He was coming as a Ninja Squirrel-"

"Alright!" Buster exclaimed, getting glances from everyone. "What? I really like that show. Which one was he coming as?"

"I don't remember, but he was too excited, and Fern's more creative than that. Come on, everyone, hear her out," Jenna begged. The group gave in, taking their seats (as best they could, in Muffy's case) and giving Fern their undivided attention.

"Binky's mother arrived with him to the costume shop around nine-thirty this morning. They accepted the packaging without question, as they had reserved a Ninja Squirrel costume in advance. They returned, not knowing until mere minutes ago that some cruel person switched the costume with one unmentionable, so embarrasing he almost refused to tell me."

"Fern you have to tell us. What if it's an important clue?" Francine pleaded, clearly not enjoying the mystery as she looked over the group. Brain was shaking his head at her request.

"I don't think it's necessary," Brain interjected. "We should question the motive if the costume is truly that awful. Who would want to exchange that culturally-accepted costume for something unmentionable."

"It was Buster!" Muffy cried. "He already mentioned how much of a fan he is of the show. He must of overheard him and gotten jealous!"

"No, Buster's wanted to be a robot for weeks," Arthur said defiantly. "He was happy about his choice."

"Muffy does bring up a valuable point," Fern offered, pacing the floor. "Whoever did this knew of Binky's choice and did not approve, meaning they likely overheard the conversation he'd had with Jenna. Did he talk to anyone else?" Fern asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Then Jenna, I need you to remember who was sitting near you while you were talking."

"Ladonna was in our group, but she thought it was a cool costume. She couldn't be here so she was jealous, but I doubt she'd do something like this, even for a good story," Jenna said, tapping her forehead in thought. "Francine's group was at the next table. Who were you working with, Francine?"

"Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen," Francine replied. Everyone suddenly looked to Muffy.

"What? You think _I_ would do something like this? Please! What would be the point?" Muffy exclaimed, almost laughing at the absurd idea.

"Muffy doesn't have the motive necessary for such costume sabotage," Francine said, "and I doubt Francine has much of one either. That only leaves one person...Sue Ellen. Sue Ellen, what about you?"

Sue Ellen was red, first appearing red like a tomato then turning dark red like a beet. She burst into tears, running from the room in embarrasment. Fern moved to talk to her at the end of the hallway.

"I made a terrible mistake!" Sue Ellen sobbed. Fern comforted her, and Sue Ellen tried to calm down, but she had to tell the story to do so. "I thought he said he was coming to the party as a ninja, so I went to the costume shop I'd heard him mentioned and paid the clerk to give him a women's Cinderella costume instead. I didn't know it would get this out of hand! I just didn't want him to be the same thing as me."

"I see this as an honest mistake, but you should apologize to him and make things right," Fern smiled sympathetically. "And never tell anyone about that costume."

Sue Ellen giggled, "I know," she nodded, wiping her eyes and moving into the kitchen to begin making phone calls. Unfortunately, Francine and Jenna had to leave before Binky could arrive in his proper costume, but in the end, the students had a wonderful time. Fern decided to save her true party mystery for another day, but she was strangely satisfied that her friends were able to create their own mystery without her help. She smiled as she wished her friends a good night and joined her mother for one last slice of cake.

~End

Theme 017: Costume Party

Theme 021: Saving the Day

This one-shot was completed as part of a theme list challenge I'm doing with TheUltimateCombo and others. For more info, see our profiles and PM if you'd like to join.

A/N: I had the idea for this piece for quite a while, but it took me a while to write it out. I hand-wrote it first and it's one of the longest one-shots I've ever written that way. It's two full pages of notebook paper PLUS part of a third, so yeah, that's quite a bit of writing.

I want to thank who gave me the idea for Binky in a Cinderalla costume but I can't remember who it was *blushes*. I do remember you were a fan of Sophomore Sorrows and you got the idea of a Binky Cinderella from Binky's rough times with his parents. If you'd be so kind as to job my memory, it'd be nice to give you the credit you deserve. If only Binky's classmates could know about that costume, but it's probably best that they don't:D

Anyway, these are just some thoughts^^ Also, I kind of liked doing a Fern mystery piece. Keep your eyes open for more, and I hope everyone has a safe summer.

[NOTE: I wrote this a long time ago and I'm just now getting to post it. Yeah, my harddrive is FULL of Arthur pieces right now *blushes*]


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